Parking rate hike proposed for renters, not homeowners

Tuesday

Mar 26, 2013 at 10:20 PM

A City Commission committee recommends a significant price hike in residential parking permits for renters, but no increase for homeowners.

A City Commission committee recommends a significant price hike in residential parking permits for renters, but no increase for homeowners.The city has mulled price increases and tightened up the distribution system for permits to address concerns that non-residents were obtaining neighborhood parking permits to avoid the higher costs of paying for a permit to park on the University of Florida campus.A consultant recommended rate increases in a 2008 study.It's not yet clear when the full City Commission will consider the increases and other recommended changes to the city's residential parking program.Currently, the permits to park on-street cost $19.50 annually in each of the eight residential parking zones near the UF campus.After a nearly three-hour discussion Tuesday, the city's Community Development Committee, comprised of commissioners Thomas Hawkins, Yvonne Hinson-Rawls and Randy Wells, recommended the following changes:-- A cost of $20 a year for parking for homestead properties with the option of purchasing a three-year parking permit for $60.-- A cost of $50 a year for residents of rented homes, apartments and other non-homestead properties in most parking zones.-- A cost of $100 a year for non-homestead properties in those zones near UF where the number of permits sold significantly outnumbers the number of available spaces.Those "parking constrained" areas include the current parking zones 1 and 5. Those are areas of primarily student housing that stretch south from University Avenue on the east side of Southwest 13th Street and include University Heights. In zone 1, there were 394 available spaces and 944 permits sold in 2011, according to staff.The $100 fee was also recommended for the area of parking zone 2 west of Northwest 13th Street, which includes much of the College Park neighborhood.City Commissioner Randy Wells said the proposed increases were intended to distribute limited spaces when there was "too much demand in an area."John Fleming, with student housing developer Trimark Properties, said price increases would help to reduce instances of "fraud" when students or other residents of a neighborhood near the university buy a permit and then sell it to someone who does not live in the area.Robert Pearce, who owns rental homes in the area, spoke against the increases."You're raising the price for people who don't own their homes by 500 percent," Pearce said. "You're increasing the prices for people who own their homes by zero."Some longtime residents of the University Park neighborhood spoke against a cost increase for homeowners.Hunt Davis, who has lived in the area since 1969, said residents pushed for the implementation of a permit program back in 1981 to preserve the single-family residential character of the neighborhood. Back then, there was no cost for the permits.

Davis said University Park and areas farther north from the campus did not have a problem of permits exceeding available spaces. In that residential zone, there are 947 spaces and 154 permits sold. "Our concern is the city shouldn't treat all these parking zones the same because they are different," Davis said. Frank Green, who grew up in University Park and moved back in the late 1970s, said longtime homeowners shouldn't have to pay anything to park a car on the street in front of their own home.Besides modifying some boundaries of existing zones and establishing a new Innovation District parking zone, the committee also recommended adding three additional parking attendant positions to the city payroll.The city currently has three parking attendant positions. One of them is vacant at this time. Each additional attendant has estimated annual personnel costs of approximately $37,000. Last fiscal year, each of the city's parking attendants generated an estimated $121,000 in citation revenues.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.